The State - News from July 22, 1986

A federal judge in San Francisco has ordered State Farm Insurance Co. to hold hearings for at least 70,000 women who believe that the company discriminated against them in filling 1,250 sales agent trainee jobs. The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Thelton E. Henderson requires the insurance company to spend as much as $200,000 to notify the women of their right to individual hearings. Earlier this year, Thelton found State Farm guilty of sex discrimination in its hiring for the potentially lucrative jobs, claiming that the company maintained a “male image” and that it “discouraged and deterred women from applying.” State Farm attorney Paul Laveroni said it could take the company “years” to hold all the required hearings.